Get Your Fried Chicken Tacos On

The other day my friend mentioned she was in North Carolina eating fried chicken tacos. I thought “that sounds really good right now, good idea!” and I made my own version.

I’m a weirdo who keeps lots of stuff in the freezer just in case I need it. Luckily, I just happened to have some chicken breasts, no bone no skin, just plain jane old boneless skinless breasts, conveniently marinating in my freezer in a mixture of buttermilk, sriracha and garlic. So I took those babies out to thaw.

I thought these tacos would be good with a white sauce so I made a version of Alabama white sauce. There are lots of recipes for Alabama white sauce out there. Mine was a combo of mayonnaise, water, apple cider vinegar, horseradish, sugar, garlic, salt and black pepper and the secret ingredient….Durkee!! So if there are any hardcore purist Alabama white sauce lovers out there…better make your own cuz this is my version and it is not a true “purist” version.

Also I just wanted a plain white flour tortilla not corn, but that was just my choice. And finally I wanted really simple toppings, in my case this meant beautiful ripe summer tomato, iceberg lettuce that was really crisp and cold and some slice of sweet summer onion.

The tacos were delicious! Really I have to say they were darn good. Beer would be good with these. I don’t really drink beer all that much and when I do its something watery and weak so I probably won’t be giving any recommendations in this department!

2 or 3 chicken breasts any kind you want

2 or 3 cups buttermilk

at least 2 TBS sriracha 3 if you like it more spicy like I do

2 cloves garlic minced

Place your chicken breasts and all ingredients in a big bag or container and mix well. Refrigerate for as long as you can but at least 2 hrs.

Flour-2-3 cups

S&P

Spicy pimiento pepper for a smoky flavor about 1 tsp

Place all ingredients in a brown paper bag and shake. Once your chicken has marinated sufficiently add breasts to brown bag and shake 1 at a time then place breasts on a metal rack until ready to fry.

Peanut Oil for frying

Heat your oven to 350 degrees

I did not “deep” fry mine I shallow fried in a deep pan. SO I used 1 small bottle of peanut oil. If you plan to deep fry you will need more. So now you are ready to fry your chickens. Pour the oils into a deep pot and get it to about 350 degrees. You’ll want to keep it at 350 so you don’t burn the chicken. When you add the chicken to the oil the temp will drop so you might have to raise the heat for a minute or 2. Carefully add the chicken to the oil and fry for about 6 minutes per side until golden brown and crisp. Move the chicken around a little bit so it doesn’t stick, but not too much. Then remove to a rack on a baking pan and put into the 350 degree oven to finish cooking all the way in the middle while you prepare the rest of your tacos.

White Sauce

1 cup Mayonnaise-I wish I had Duke’s! But I don’t out here so I used the best mayo I had

1 tbs horseradish sauce

1-2 tsp sugar

1 cup water

1/2 cup Apple Cider Vinegar

Salt and Black pepper

2 minced garlic cloves

1 heaping TBS Durkee sauce. If you don’t have Durkee use mustard.

Mix all ingredients well and taste and adjust. This isn’t rocket science and I made this 5 days ago so I’m trying to remember exactly what I did, but if you want a thicker consistency you might need to add more mayo or maybe you want it sweeter so add more sugar. Just taste it and make it how you like then refrigerate until ready to use.

Flour Tortillas

Cold, washed and shredded iceberg lettuce

Ripe tomatoes sliced or chopped

Sliced sweet onion

Put your tortillas on the griddle and warm them up. Then assemble tacos. Add sliced fried chicken, lettuce, onion and tomato and top with white sauce. Open your beer or diet coke and enjoy!